The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion goes gold

Three weeks. Just 21 days. That is all that stands between European gamers and one of the most anticipated Xbox 360 games since the console's launch in December last year.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been given a release date by its UK publisher, 2K Games: Friday 24th March 2006. If you are one of our US readers then you will be able to get your hands on the game four days earlier on Monday 20th.

&quot;Our most ambitious project ever is finally done,&quot; said Todd Howard, Executive Producer of Oblivion. &quot;We're excited to get the game into everyone's hands and let them experience it for themselves. We hope they enjoy it. I think it's our best game yet.&quot;

The game was originally slated as a launch title for Xbox 360 but when it was announced that the game would be slip to &quot;early 2006&quot;, scores of gamers cancelled their Xbox 360 pre-orders. It seems many were prepared to pay up to £300 just to play Elder Scrolls - neither Project Gotham Racing 3 nor Perfect Dark Zero was tempting enough to tide them over while they waited.

In some regards, we can hardly blame them. The game looked simply gorgeous when we first looked at it last year - check out our interview with Bethesda's Gavin Carter if you haven't already read about this ambitious RPG.

The good news is not limited to Xbox 360 fans - Oblivion will also be released for PC on the same dates. Bethesda have released details of the system specs you will need to match £279 worth of Microsoft console. The Minimum Specification is a 2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, X600-level graphics with 128MB of video memory and 4.6GB of disk space. If you want to run with decent levels of detail turned on, however, the Recommended Specification is a 3GHz processor or equivalent, 1GB of memory and Radeon X800 or GeForce 6800 graphics or better.

Both platforms will have a standard version and a Collector's Edition; the latter includes:

Special packaging - four panel digipak

Bonus DVD featuring concept art, renders, screenshots and a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the game

Septim coin

112 page pocket guide to the Empire

If you shop around (or just go direct to Play.com -Ed) you can pre-order the PC version for £24.99 / £29.99 and the standard Xbox 360 version for £39.99. Pricing for the Collector's Edition was not available at time of print, but expect to pay £44.99.

Excited about Oblivion? Why not drop us your thoughts on the hardware requirements and the game itself over in the News Forum?